Heart of Lions

Living Boldly

Stirring awake from his slumber, Sean slowly opened his eyes to see the sun peaking through the curtains. Glancing over at the clock to see that it was eleven in the afternoon, Sean was surprised that he hadn’t slept later than that seeing as they had gotten in so late from the hospital. Sitting up in the bed, Sean took in the view of the room and how it seemed to fit Ariana’s personality so well with pictures of her idols pinned to the wall. Getting up from his spot on the floor, in which he chose to sleep at for the night, Sean glanced around to see that nor Alexa or Ariana were there in the room. Knowing that by this time, Alexa had to go off to school, Sean began to wonder where Ariana had gone off to. Hearing yelling come from the next room, Sean quickly made his way out to see that Ariana was in sobs. Grabbing the phone, Sean looked on to see that the call had ended but it had done just enough to make his friend upset.

“Sean” Ariana said as he scrolled to see that her recent call was from Jai and that they had been talking on and off throughout the night

“Is he serious???” Sean questioned as he looked through her text

“That’s none of your business” Ariana protested as she tried to grab her phone away from her

“He’s blaming you for being needy. Your grandfather is sick and he can’t be here because you’re being to needy???” Sean questioned

“It’s not that simple” Ariana replied before she grabbed her phone from him

“Well simplify it for me?” Sean requested “I thought he was supposed to be here? I thought the big reason why you didn’t tell me was because he was here? I thought a lot of things about him that just don’t add up” he questioned

“Why does it matter?!?” Ariana questioned

“Because you don’t deserve this!” Sean replied angrily before he realized that he too was piling on to the stress that she was already under. Pulling her towards him, Sean wrapped his arms around her as she rested her forehead on his chest.

“I already know what you’re going to say” Ariana replied as she wiped away tears

“I’m not trying to make you upset, but I just don’t get why you let him treat you like this” Sean said as he spoke to her with a softer tone as he rubbed her back

“….because….I don’t know, I just….I want to make things work” Ariana reasoned

“At what cost though?” Sean asked as she turned away to look out the window at the glowing rays from the sun “We’ve never really talked about it, but I think…I think as your friend, I think you shouldn’t be with a guy that can’t even be here to support you” he said

“I can see that. It’s as plain as day, I can see that” Ariana sighed

“Do you not agree?” Sean asked “I mean be honest with me, tell me what you feel?” he asked

“I feel like my relationship is over. I feel like I want him to be here out of just simple respect for me, respect for us and what we at least meant to each other” Ariana stated “I don’t care if he loves me or not, I just…I thought he could at least respect the fact that I’m hurting and would want to show compassion” she told him